


It's a Long Road Back

by McGregorsWench



Series: It's a Long Road Back [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Skinny!Steve, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5700292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McGregorsWench/pseuds/McGregorsWench
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy wakes up in the past with no clue how she got there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Long Road Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yourmarvelhighness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourmarvelhighness/gifts).



> _**Your Assignment:** [HeliosSelene (ao3)](http://archiveofourown.org/users/HeliosSelene)_   
>  _**Requesting:** Either_   
>  _**Prompt:** Coffeeshop AU, Darcy is decorating her shop, she needs help. Steve helps._
> 
>  
> 
> _To HeliosSelene, I am so sorry that this was late! I ran into a huge roadblock in my mind, and I have no excuses! I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did writing it! As the ending would imply, there is a HIGH probability that there will be another entry in this verse...if you have any ideas/prompts...let me know, PLEASE?!?!?!?!_

**It's a Long Road Back**

 

 

 _I'm dreamin' tonight of a place I love_  
_Even more than I usually do_  
_And although I know it's a long road back_  
_I promise you_  
_I'll be home for Christmas_  
_You can count on me_  
_**~Bing Crosby~ Christmas Song (1943)**_

 

Darcy slowly opened her eyes, groaning as she did so. She muttered to herself, “what did Stark do to me this time?”

“Ma'am? Are you okay?” A disembodied voice spoke from next to whatever it was that she was laying on.

“I'm not sure. It's very bright in here, and my head hurts like hell.”

“If you want me to help you sit up, I have some aspirin for you to take,” the helpful voice offered.

Darcy opened her eyes as she sat up. Sitting before her was an absolutely adorable young man with the most gorgeous blue eyes that she had ever seen. She smiled at him as she accepted the aspirin and swallowed them down. “Thank you for this. Can I ask where I am? Because, I really don't recognize this room as being remotely like the one I last remember.” Glancing around the small room, Darcy took in the fact that she was sitting on a bed in a room just off a really old style kitchen. Across from her was a small dresser with a vanity mirror on top. There was a rocking chair in the corner, near the window into the kitchen.

“You're in Brooklyn. I found you outside my apartment when I came home from work today. I hope I didn't hurt you when I dragged you inside. I couldn't wake you up.” He smiled at Darcy before continuing. “My name is Steve, by the way, Steve Rogers.”

“Steve, thank you. My name is Darcy, Darcy Lewis. And, I'm not entirely sure on how I came to be anywhere near your apartment in Brooklyn. The last thing I remember, I was in Manhattan.”

As Darcy stood up, she looked out the nearby window. What she could see outside...was a far different skyline than she had ever known. Across the dirt courtyard there were crumbling brick buildings, lines of laundry stretched between the rows, the clothing was a style Darcy knew well, if you considered all the old movies she watched growing up. Off to the far right she could see Lower Manhattan; it was jarring to say the least. The skyline was smaller, and far newer, than she remembered from last week when she went shopping in Brooklyn. The buildings were wrong somehow, some of the shapes of the skyline were similar, but still unfamiliar. Her New York was nowhere that she could see. But she had just been there. She knew it was there. She could feel her chest starting to tighten. It was if she couldn’t breathe. Her body already knew what her mind could not accept.

“Toto, I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore,” Darcy whispered to herself. Reaching into the one place she kept her phone, she pulled her new StarkPhone out from her bra. Pressing the home button, she noticed that she had no signal. She could feel tears threatening to gather.

“Steve, I know this is going to sound odd. But, I really need to know the date. Please?” Darcy asked Steve as she turned away from the obviously early 20th Century scene outside the window.

“It’s September 25th, 1942.” Steve answered Darcy before noticing her suddenly pale look. “Are you alright?”

“I guess if the skyline outside hadn't convinced me, then the date sure did.” Darcy blankly answered him. Fumbling for the chair she knew was behind her, Darcy stumbled.

Steve hurried forward to help her sit. “Are you alright?” Steve hurried to get her a glass of water.

“It's like I'm a _Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_. And, on my birthday of all days...”

“Are you saying what I think that you are saying, Darcy? Because, I’m not sure that it’s possible.”

“If you're thinking that I traveled in time, then you would be correct.” Darcy said numbly, taking a drink from the proffered glass Steve had given her. To stave off any argument, she numbly handed him her phone, and took her ID badge off the lanyard hanging around her neck. “Press that button there,” Darcy indicated the small button on the bottom of her phone.

Steve pressed the button on the small glass-like box in his hand. It lit up from within. An apparent clock stated the time was 2:38 p.m. He looked up at his clock on the wall; it read 4:56 p.m. He turned the box over to see a color photograph with Darcy sitting on a couch with two others; a small dame who was wrapped up in the arms of a mountain sized blond man. All three were dressed in what appeared to be shirts with strange, cartoon like pictures and soft- looking pants with plaid striping.  With a dawning horror, Steve was starting to suspect this dame may be telling him the truth.

“Time travel? That's a gas! I'd love to try it someday for myself.” Darcy smiled at that, rather sadly, Steve thought.

“Be careful what you wish for Steve. You just might get it.”

“Is it really your birthday?”

“Yes. Although, technically, I won't be born for 48 years.”

“You were born in 1990? That's kinda odd!” Steve smiled at Darcy.

“It's a lot to take in, but do you know of any place I can crash? Until I can either get home or afford my own place.” Darcy knew that she would need to get home, but, just like her father taught her about getting lost, she knew that the best chance for her to be found was to stay put. She hoped that Stark or Jane would eventually work it out to find her.

“I guess you would need a place to stay. I've only got the one bed, but I do have a trundle. Ma used to sleep on it. It's yours as long as you need it. She was able to buy this apartment with a small inheritance from her family back in the old country and the pension she got from the army after my pa was killed in the Great War.”

Darcy smiled back at Steve. “If you're sure? Well... I already feel safe with you.” Realizing that if she wasn’t safe with Captain America, who would she be safe with? “So, yes! Thank you!” She exclaimed as she pulled Steve into a tight hug.

“You wouldn't happen to know anyone who's hiring, would ya?”

 

**_~*~*~*~*~_ **

 

Two months later, Darcy could scarcely believe that she was still in the past, but at least she was having fun. She had found a decent place to work at a bakery around the block from the tiny apartment that she was sharing with a great guy. Today the bakery had been quiet. It was just after the Thanksgiving rush, and she had been told by her boss that the Christmas rush would not start for another couple of weeks. Darcy had just finished wiping down the counter in preparation for locking up and going home. It would have been the last thing that she would normally do when closing, but she had offered to put up the decorations for Christmas when John and Mary got called to the hospital.

As the bell above the door chimed to announce the arrival of another customer, Darcy prepared to tell them they were closed. She suddenly realized she knew the guy, and she blushed. “Steve! What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet at home?”

“What? A guy can't surprise his best girl at work?” He smiled and handed her a small potted poinsettia. “Sorry, it's not a bouquet of real flowers, but with my allergies...”

“Oh Steven, you know I don't care about that! But, at least we can finally decorate the apartment for the holidays.” Before he could apologize, again for his allergies, Darcy continued. “Speaking of decorating, would you help me lock up this place and decorate it? John and Mary were going to do it tonight, but their daughter went into labor. They rushed her to the hospital.”

“Of course, I will.” Steve smiled, “you guys must have made cinnamon rolls today?” Steve noted, smelling cinnamon and vanilla in the air, walking over to her to place a kiss on Darcy's cheek.

Darcy surprised him by turning so that her lips met Steve's. It was a quick kiss, but Darcy broke it off with a smile. At Steve's questioning look, she smiled and nodded towards the mistletoe.

Steve smiled back at her and leaned in for another kiss. “Let's get to decorating then, doll.”

Darcy walked over to the door to lock it. Turning around, she smiled, “then let's get to it. And, yes, we made a lot of cinnamon rolls today. I even have a few to take home for us.”

An hour and several boxes of decorations later, Darcy was finally turning out the lights and locking the door as Steve was escorting her to their home. “Look, it's snowing!”

“Yes, it is. The first snowfall of the season. I just wish that I had that new scarf you knitted for me the other day.”

“Then, let's hurry home. I've gotta get dinner on for us. It's my turn, and I got it all ready to go this morning.”

Steve offered Darcy his arm as they walked home through the falling snow. He held the door open for her. He helped Darcy out of her coat, hanging it up for her as she walked into the kitchen to turn the oven on.

After dinner was over and Steve had cleaned all the dishes up, they settled into the living area. Steve turned on the radio, while Darcy looked out the window at the still falling snow. Coming up behind her, Steve put his arms around Darcy and his head on her shoulder. He looked out the window at the snow with her.

“Do you think that you could be happy here with me? In the past?”

“Steve, I am very happy here with you. If I never make it home, I am certainly fine with living out my days here with you. I love you. Would I be happy going home? I miss my friends, definitely.... Thor, Jane, Clint, Nat, Pepper, Bruce, even Tony! But, Steve, you are my family now. I don’t think that I could ever live without you in my life again.”

“I love you too, Darcy. Can I ask you something? Something very important... Something that I never expected to, or dreamed I would, until I met you.”

Darcy turned around in Steve's arms, to face him. “Yes, Steve. You can ask me anything.”

“Darcy, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Looking into his sparkling blue eyes, Darcy smiled brightly. “Yes, I will. I never thought that I would get married, either. Can we get married sooner, rather than later?” She wanted to tell him, make him understand, that she was afraid of never going home, and she wanted to have something to be hers. Something that she could keep close to her heart. But she was also afraid he would misunderstand.

“Marry me on Christmas Eve then?”

“That sounds wonderfully perfect. I love you, Steven Grant Rogers.”

“And, I love you, Darcy Ann Lewis.” Steve leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> _I want to thank my wonderful betas,[GlynnisIsta8](http://archiveofourown.org/users/GlynnisIsta8) and [Aenaria](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Aenaria). They caught so many mistakes and wording issues that I wouldn't have! Thank you ladies! I really appreciate ALL of your efforts on my behalf!_


End file.
